Welcome! If you're reading this, you're interested in Wi-Fi Rush, probably after seeing how much of a bang it was after a launch, even if there was barely any fanfare about it. Good news! A lot about it being awesome is, in fact, true! Bad news, it has some serious flaws and indeed demands that you have rhythm.
Gameplay - The spine of this game is the rhythm. Afraid of not being up to the task? Simple! Play something akin to Crypt of the Necrodancer, if you clear the first character, you're good to go. The game tries its best to welcome people with different levels of skill (adjusting beat timing tolerance, set all QT Es for a single button, etc), but if you aren't good with rhythm, you won’t go far. Every single attack needs to follow the beat in order to be effective (or two beats in case of heavy attacks).
Everything follows the beat. The lights in the background, the pump and twist random machines, the moments in cutscenes... So during combat, there is that wonderful moment where everything just clicks, you're able to synchronize your attacks and dodges to the beat, and through it with the world itself. Everything just flows beautifully, the whole game lives and breathes your inputs and movements and, even for a small combat that barely last one minute, you feel like a rockstar. Its exhilarating, to say the least. Difficulty escalates nicely, new enemies always being presented alone and new mechanics being highlighted, with a training arena for practicing all moves.
Sadly, several aspects of the game are seriously flawed. For example, there is no checkpoint reset. You always need to quit the game and then load everything again. Healing ends up only helping already skilled players because its sparse, so if you get busted in combat, chances are, the next scrap will be worse or lethal. Could be fixed with buying healing in vending stations.
Visuals- The game is surprisingly bright and colorful, a gorgeous treat to the eyes and the character design is really, really good. You can see the personality of the characters by the way they dress.
Writing- This is a shining example of: Simple is good. While I personally don’t like idiot heroes and I found Peppermint a seriously clichéd character, I found the story and most characters enjoyable, the jokes and references funny, especially since the writers didn’t try to reinvent the wheel and mess with a tried-and-true formula. Especial mention goes to Kale, he is a good example of a ‘corporate villain’, with his style, personality, being a genuine threat.
Soundtrack– If the rhythm and beat is the spine of the game and the combat is the flesh, the soundtrack is the veins that make everything flow together. Its really good by its own, but it also goes beyond and mixes licensed songs, remixing them in the combat especially during bosses.
So my suggestion is, try some rhythm games first, if you’re good (not superb, just good), try it! And don’t be afraid of lowering the difficulty or tweaking the specifics.
VideoGame Well, that was a... RUSH.
Welcome! If you're reading this, you're interested in Wi-Fi Rush, probably after seeing how much of a bang it was after a launch, even if there was barely any fanfare about it. Good news! A lot about it being awesome is, in fact, true! Bad news, it has some serious flaws and indeed demands that you have rhythm.
Everything follows the beat. The lights in the background, the pump and twist random machines, the moments in cutscenes... So during combat, there is that wonderful moment where everything just clicks, you're able to synchronize your attacks and dodges to the beat, and through it with the world itself. Everything just flows beautifully, the whole game lives and breathes your inputs and movements and, even for a small combat that barely last one minute, you feel like a rockstar. Its exhilarating, to say the least. Difficulty escalates nicely, new enemies always being presented alone and new mechanics being highlighted, with a training arena for practicing all moves.
So my suggestion is, try some rhythm games first, if you’re good (not superb, just good), try it! And don’t be afraid of lowering the difficulty or tweaking the specifics.